‘There’s no hope of survival’
Family of German billionaire wishes to recover body for burial
BERLIN: Family members of German retail billionaire KarlErivan Haub (pic) have lost hope of finding him alive, a week after he went missing while skiing in the Swiss Alps.
“After more than seven days in the extreme weather conditions of a glacier region, there is no longer any hope of survival for KarlErivan Haub,” said his company Tengelmann group in a statement issued on behalf of the magnate’s family on Friday.
It added that a multinational search for the 58yearold had been called off.
Haub is the boss of Germany’s sprawling Tengelmann retail group, which owns a number of chains and other businesses.
Its success has lifted the family into 265th place on
Forbes magazine’s global rich list, and 20th place in Germany.
Haub, a seasoned alpinist, had gone skiing solo but the alarm was raised when he did not show up for an appointment at his hotel in Zermatt.
Swiss and Italian emergency teams have been combing the region around Switzerland’s iconic Matterhorn peak, with helicopters flying over the area while experienced rescuers have carried out foot searches.
But the search area covered thousands of hectares and operations on the Italian side were also hampered when a wave of harsh weather struck.
Swiss media reported that Haub had taken the ski lift at the Klein Matterhorn at about 8.30am last Saturday, and had set off at an altitude of 3,800m on the glaciercovered mountain – the highest in Europe reachable by cable car. Haub was training for the Patrouille des Glaciers, a gruelling race across the Alps organised every two years by the Swiss army and due to take place this Tuesday.
The race, billed as the world’s toughest, was conceived on the eve of World War II, as neutral Switzerland prepared to defend the country’s borders.
Haub had participated twice in the competition that combines skiing and climbing.
Rescuers believe that he had an accident during his solo practice run.
Tengelmann said efforts would be made to recover Haub’s body for burial and that his family would bear all costs towards the search.
Haub’s disappearance came just a month after the death of his father Erivan Karl Matthias Haub, 85, who ran the company from 1969 to 2000.
The Tengelmann Group, a familyowned business, employs around 80,000 people worldwide. It said its revenues for the financial year of
2016 reached 9bil (RM43.2bil). — AFP